The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

A US military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden's driver Thursday to just 5 ½ years in prison, a surprise rebuke to Pentagon prosecutors who portrayed him as a member of the al-Qaida leader's inner circle worthy of a life sentence. Salim Hamdan, with credit for time served, will be eligible for release in less than five months, though U.S. authorities still insist they could hold him indefinitely without charge at Guantanamo.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, called Hamdan a "small player," and the jury apparently agreed, rejecting the recommendation of 30 years by prosecutors who said even a life sentence would be fitting in order to send an example to would-be terrorists.

"I hope the day comes that you return to your wife and daughters and your country, and you're able to be a provider, a father and a husband in the best sense of all those terms," Allred told Hamdan at the close of the hearing.

The prisoner, dressed in a charcoal sports coat and white robe, responded: "God willing."

It was an anticlimactic finish to a case that had taken on a special prominence as the first Guantanamo war crimes trial. The Pentagon pushed forward with Hamdan's prosecution despite repeated legal challenges that went to the Supreme Court in a 2006 case that struck down the previous rules for the tribunals, prompting Congress and President Bush to craft new ones.

The split verdict on the charges and the relatively lenient sentence appeared to strip away the urgency of the government's plans to prosecute dozens of Guantanamo prisoners under special rules widely criticized as unfair.

The jury's sentence now goes for mandatory review to a Pentagon official who can shorten it but not extend it. It remains unclear what will happen to Hamdan once his sentence is served, since the U.S. military has said it won't release anyone who still represents a threat.

The decision was a "slap in the face" to the Bush administration and its detention policies, said David Remes, a Washington lawyer who represents 15 Yemeni prisoners at Guantanamo.

"They chose to make this a test case. But they never imagined that it would result in such a stunning rebuff," he said.

The chief defense counsel for the Guantanamo tribunals, Army Col. Steve David, said the government failed in its strategy to link Hamdan to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The government attempted to inflame the emotions of the panel," he said. "It didn't work."